“Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” Anti-Thatcher Song No. 1 On iTunes, To Be Played By BBC For Five Seconds

According to the Daily Mirror, top BBC honchos are accused of a “cop out,” when hours after attacking the campaign that is helping the song “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” land in the number one spot on the charts, decided to play it anyway.

The British government-owned entity would play a “brief excerpt” of the song during tomorrow’s chart show, instigating claims that the broadcaster is being “manipulated by anarchists.”

The grave decision signifies that, less than a week after the death of Baroness Thatcher, Britain’s greatest and finest peacetime minister, the words “witch is dead” may be broadcast on Radio 1.

Allies of Lady Thatcher thought of the plans as “utterly disrespectful,” and claimed they had handed a propaganda victory to left-wing agitators who have propelled the song, from the Wizard of Oz, towards the top of the charts.

Tory MP’s branded the decision of the song to play “up to five seconds” of the song a “cop out” by the new BBC director general Lord Hall and all BBC executives.

Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead reached number three in the official chart yesterday and last night required only 5,000 more to reach the important second place. It has been number one on iTunes already before it’s increased rankings on the charts.

After hours of private talks, the BBC said that the Radio 1 chart show would contain a “news item” explaining why the song was in the charts and that a short clip of it would be played instead of the whole song.

Lord Hall, who faces the first crisis of his leadership since being head of the broadcaster, said in a statement, “I understand the concerns about this campaign. I personally believe it is distasteful and inappropriate. However I do believe it would be wrong to ban the song outright as free speech is an important principle and a ban would only give it more publicity.”

Lord Hall held a number of conversations with Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper and director of radio Graham Ellis on how to deal with the growing storm. Mr. Cooper, however, told Radio 4’s PM programme that it had been his decision to air the clip and not Lord Hall’s.

Mr. Cooper wrote in a blog posted on the BBC website, “I find the campaign to promote the song in response to the death of Baroness Thatcher as distasteful as anyone.” He said, however, that the chart cannot, “ignore a high new entry which clearly reflects the views of a big enough portion of the record-buying public to propel it up the charts.”

The Radio 1 controller added also said in his statement, "To ban the record from our airwaves completely would risk giving the campaign the oxygen of further publicity and might inflame an already delicate situation."